Technology and social media outlets provide opportunities to personalize messages, but showing the locals you care about their community is proving to be an effective way to target customers and build loyalty.

Hoping to encourage a dialogue around race-related issues, the Seattle-based coffee giant devised the now partially dismantled "Race Together" campaign where baristas write the slogan on Starbucks coffee cups, and engage select customers in a conversation on race.

Food waste is a fact of the restaurant business, and for something that cannot be completely avoided, the toll it takes is steep. Food waste has a spectrum of consequences that spans the erosion of profits to negatively impacting the ecosystem and harming the sustainability of the planet.

While many quick service restaurants and casual dining restaurants have the appetite for international expansion, they often wind up with indigestion after investing significant resources. The reason? These brands treat their international divisions as ancillary businesses, rather than as primary growth drivers.

Facebook finally adopted the publishing model of the old school media: If you want to publicize your business, you have to pay. Small business owners and restaurateurs will have to quickly re-evaluate their marketing plans for 2015.